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Dial Lisa for Murder
"Dial Lisa for Murder" is the TBD episode of season 22 of the animated comedy series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 2010. The episode, being a sequel to the season 12 episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger", follows Lisa as she dates Jesse Grass, who still imprisoned at the local prison. She eventually ends up hiding Jesse in the Simpsons family home, however, and is convicted and sent to jail. After returning home, she becomes a hardened criminal, who continually tortures her family. While starting a life away from home, Lisa sees the magazine article that Brian wrote about her. Touched by what he wrote, Lisa returns home and thanks Brian in return. Prior to the episode's main storyline, Homer attempts to win a local championship rodeo competition, but his attempts to sabotage the competition to ensure his win gets the best of him after getting assaulted by the bull he rode on. First announced at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the episode was written by Alex Carter and Andrew Goldberg, and directed by Cyndi Tang-Loveland. It received mostly positive reviews for its storyline, and cultural references, in addition to receiving criticism from the Parents Television Council. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 6.21 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Dave Boat, Peter Chen, Joshua Jackson (reprising his role from "Lisa the Tree Hugger"), Camille Guaty, Victor J. Ho, Allison Janney, Rachael MacFarlane, and Lisa Wilhoit along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. "Dial Lisa for Murder" was released on DVD along with ten other episodes from the season on December 13, 2011. Plot When the news announces a local rodeo competition in Quahog, Homer decides to enter. He trains using Bart and Lisa in various ways, such as using Bart as a bronco, or roping Lisa and branding her, only to find he has been beaten to it by Mayor Adam West, who takes her away. However, during the competition he quickly falls off his anthropomorphic bull, and ends up being raped, off-screen, by the bull. While that occurs, Brian meets the editor of Teen People (Allison Janney), who gives him a job writing an article about the average American girl. When he starts following and spying on Lisa with Stewie for research, they discover that she is dating with Jesse Grass, an old crush from her past. After Brian reveals Lisa's secret to Homer and Marge, who don't want her seeing Jesse again due to the events who occurred when she met him, he soon breaks out of jail during a prison riot and tries to hide in the Simpsons' house. When Brian comes to Lisa's room to apologize for what he did to her, he finds him just as Homer enters. Homer only knows what is happening when reading the episode's plot synopsis in TV Guide (the reason he entered the rodeo), and finds out who Jesse is. As Jesse escapes out the window, Homer alerts Joe, who apprehends Jesse. Joe also arrests Lisa for harboring a fugitive, and she is sent to prison. Jesse is never heard from again in the episode. Three months later, Lisa returns home with the mind and attitude of a hardened criminal, complete with a new thuggish and rebellious look. She immediately begins abusing her family, retaliating to the many years of abuse she had endured under them, such as curb-stomping Homer, raping him in the shower with a loofah, and using her mother's shirts as toilet paper (while also keeping a "poop bucket" next to her bed and refusing to empty it until it gets full). In addition, she continues habits she picked up in prison, and beats up the kids who make fun of her at school (specifically Connie D'Amico and her friends with a bag of full soda cans which she hits them with, cracking three of the popular kids' skulls open and tongue-kissing Connie afterwards) for which she is suspended. Wanting to start a new life away from home, Lisa ambushes Brian in his car and threatens him with a gun to drive to Ned's Pharmacy so she can rob him. Brian, however, shows her the article he wrote, in which he describes her "far sweeter and kinder" than the typical American girl. Touched by the fact that Brian actually cares for her just as she was, Lisa changes her mind and returns home with Brian; having changed back her normal personality in the process. Back at home, she makes a bad joke involving Wesley Snipes, and Homer, presumably not amused at this, ends the episode by saying "Always end on a strong joke". Source *1